Weekend Miscellany

Happy Weekend, everyone – and, for those in the UK, it’s a Bank Holiday Weekend. Which makes little odds to me (especially since I’m at work tomorrow) but will give you lots of time to read Barbara Comyns’ The Vet’s Daughter – for those who are joining in a group readalong, informally organised by me and Polly (aka Novel Insights) and Claire (Paperback Reader). I finished the book today, and thought it was brilliant – feel free to post a review anytime next week (pop a link in the comments, and I’ll organise them together). If you don’t have a blog but have read the book, I’d be more than happy to post your thoughts here.

1.) The link – is to 50 Iconic Book Covers, as chosen by abebooks… not perhaps all ones I’d have chosen, but it’s nice to see them as actual books, rather than just pristine pictures of their covers, don’t you think?

2.) The book – was mentioned by a few people on an email book discussion list I’m on; the new one by Bill Bryson called At Home : A Short History of Private Life. I’ve only read a couple of his books (Mother Tongue and Shakespeare) but I loved them both. Bryson is able to relay all manner of fascinating facts without ever sounding dry, and his sense of humour is a delight. To give you an idea about the sort of thing Bryson’s doing, I’ll quote the Author’s section from Amazon: Early in the course of my research for my new book I learned that houses are amazingly complex repositories. What I found, to my great surprise, is that whatever happens in the world – whatever is discovered or created or bitterly fought over – eventually ends up, in one way or another, in your house.

Wars, famines, the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment – they are all there in your sofas and chests of drawers, tucked in to the folds of your curtains, in the downy softness of your pillows, in the paint on your walls and the water in your pipes.

Houses aren’t refuges from history, as I hope you are about to discover in At Home. They are where history ends up. So there you are – irresistible to me, I think I might have to wait til the library gets it. Or perhaps it’ll come in at no.11 in Project 24? Tempting…

3.) The blog post – is from Claire at kissacloud, and is here. It’s about Illustrado by Miguel Syjuco, a Filipino author of whom I hadn’t heard, but am now very eager to read. But it also opens up a wider question, specifically for those who have emigrated – do you try and stay in touch with your birth-nation (if such an expression exists!) through literature? As someone who was born and bred in England, I can’t answer the question – but on a regionalist note, I do get excited if a book mentions Worcestershire, since nobody seems ever to do so…

Well, I had my viva and I don’t really know how it went… some positives, quite a few negatives – I suppose I’ll find out a fortnight on Monday, and will keep you posted! But there’s nothing I can do about it now… so let’s think about the book, the blog post, & the link instead…

1.) The blog post – is, once again, an entire blog. Hey, I made the rules and I can break them if I want to (!) The blog in question is one I stumbled upon by accident when trying to find out when the French market is next coming to Gloucester Green. I didn’t manage to find out that information (answers on a postcard, please) but I did find Oxford Daily Photo. It does what it says on the tin – for the last three or four years they’ve been posting daily photographs of Oxford and Oxfordshire, the latest being this rather lovely shot:

2.) The link – was emailed to me by Lauréne on behalf of the PR firm representing Munch Bunch. Don’t worry, I’m not being paid to advertise them or anything – but I did want to share this link which is to a storytelling-for-children competition they’re running. I.e. it’s for adults who write children’s stories, and will give them a chance to be published online or via podcast. All a bit of fun, and any company keen to promote reading to children gets a sticker on their sticker chart from me.

3.) The book – was sent to me by my lovely friend Epsie. Well, she’s known as either Esther or Phoebe, so I just combined the two. In turn, she knows me as Bill – because of the beautiful name of my birthplace: Billinge. Sounds a bit like a disease, but I’m sure it’s lovely – even if they have now knocked down the hospital where we were born. Typical. (Not sure of what)

The book, which she correctly assumed would be up my street, is called Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters by Mirren Barford and Lieutenant John Lewes. I like to have a book of letters on the go, and this collection (discovered after Mirren’s death by her son, and edited by him) seems touching as well as historically interesting. Joy Street was published back in 1995, so I’m going to assume that at least *one* of you has read it…?

Well, after promising my return yesterday, I was out late last night at my church small group, and somehow slumping in front of a soap opera took precedence over writing a proper book review. Apologies… And for those keeping tabs on the state of all things technological chez Stuck-in-a-Book, the current score is Laptop: 1, iPod: 0. Yes, in a fit of pique, my iPod won’t turn on, and none of the usual methods of fixing it seem to work. It did this a while ago and just started working again after a while, so fingers crossed… or I might have to go without new shoes for a while.

For those who know things about computers, unlike me, I opted for a Compaq CQ61-427SA. Goodness knows what that means, but it’s nice and shiny.

Right. Enough of that – as we all know, computers are just a means to an end, and that end is books. So let’s get on with the book, the blog post, the link…

1.) The book – is Stephen Benatar’s Wish Her Safe At Home, which my friend’s family gave me (yes, I did *choose* it, but that doesn’t count as me *buying* it). I read an article about this novel in The Week magazine, which was reprinting this article from The Times, I believe. As well as sounding irresistible from this description – ‘a gripping and haunting story about a middle-aged, genteel woman called Rachel Waring who inherits a Georgian house in Bristol and slowly goes mad’ – I was also impressed by Benatar’s tireless and heartfelt promotion of the novel. And, let’s face it, I was won over by the ever-beautiful NYRB Classics editions. I’m not on their payroll, but I should be…

2.) The blog post – isn’t especially new now, but I was sans laptop for over a week, and in the blogosphere a week is a long time. So cast your minds back to the 5th May, those heady days before the election, and wander over to Polly (aka Novel Insights) and this post on forgotten authors. More specifically – and even more up my street – Polly has collected suggestions of novels by authors more famous for their work for children. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but I hope you know what I mean. Novels by authors known for their children’s writing. Not writing by their children, but… oh, I’m sure we’re on the same page now. It’s no secret that I love non-children’s work by A.A. Milne and Richmal Crompton, but there are plenty of others. In fact, I wrote A Level coursework on the topic, now I think of it… ahh, memories.

3.) The link – is the one for which I can never think of anything… but this YouTube video is quite funny. Oh, they seem to have removed the import-videos-into-Blogger function, but you can see it if you click here. It’s David Mitchell (the comedian, not the novelist) on the topic of Punctuation. Thanks Mel for showing it to me!

This week’s miscellany comes to you on a Saturday morning, because I was a dirty stop-up last night, and didn’t get back from London until about 2am. What *would* my mother say. Whilst in London, I had the very great pleasure of dinner with the lovely Claire (Paperback Reader) and the equally lovely Teresa (one half of Shelf Love – a pun it took me two years to get). Teresa was over visiting from the US of A – a brief discussion ensued which revealed my total lack of geographical knowledge about the US; thank goodness we didn’t start on the counties of England – and it was very nice to meet her, and see Claire again – thanks guys! When we left each other, we went to the extremes of the cultural spectrum. They went to see Macbeth at the Globe; I went with my friend Phil (also responsible for my blog feed appearing on Twitter, thanks Phil!) to see The Room: ‘The Best Worst Film Ever Made’. It’s written, directed, and starred in by Tommy Wiseau, a man without any discernible talent – unless unquashable self-belief is a talent. They hold screenings for people to mock it – and the cinema was sold out. Audience Participation includes:
Throwing plastic spoons at the screen whenever a framed picture of a spoon appears. Which they do. A lot. There were literally hundreds, probably thousands, of spoons.Shouting ‘Meanwhile, in San Francisco’ whenever another shot of San F appears.Shouting ‘Hello, Denny!’ and ‘Bye, Denny!’ whenever said character enters or leaves a room.Shouting ‘Who the heck are you?’ when a character is replaced half-way through the film by another actor, who looks nothing like the first guy.Mocking the film’s misogyny by shouting ‘because you’re a woman’ at the end of many and various lines of dialogue.One character says how much he likes ‘The candles, the music, and your sexy dress.’ None of these things are in the scene – so, naturally, it provokes the united audience reaction “What candles? What music? What sexy dress?”Joining in with this particular scene…etc. etc. etc.!
So, yes, lots of shouting. And not remotely literary. But one of the most fun evenings I’ve had for a while…

Oh dear, I’ve just got distracted by looking up The Room on Wikipedia, and then reading interviews and articles about it… when instead I should be telling you about a book, a blog post, and a link…

1.) The blog post – is over at Cornflower Books, where Karen is trying to create a profile for the ‘typical’ reader of her blog, by asking three questions… go and answer, it’s fun!

2.) The book – arrived yesterday, courtesy of Hayley at Desperate Reader, as I won it in a competition. Thanks Hayley! It’s Andrina and other stories by George Mackay Brown. I’m always on the look-out for more short stories, and keen to read more Scottish writers too, so I’m intrigued by this one. Despite my love of some short story writers, somehow I hardly ever get around to reading collections – I’ll make sure I do better with this one. Read what Hayley had to say about the book here.

3.) The link – I’m afraid I haven’t come across anything notable and bookish this week. So, on the off-chance that you’re still intrigued by The Room… click here.

And don’t forget that Persephone Reading Week kicks off on Monday… I just hope you haven’t been foolish and scheduled in Jude the Obscure for the same week…

So, my thesis is all handed in, and I’m taking the week off! I’ve amassed an implausibly high tower of books to read this week. I wonder how many I’ll get through – since one of them is Jude the Obscure, I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer is something around ‘one’. There is (as my mother always told me) a time and a place for everything – and Stuck-in-a-Book’s Weekend Miscellany is not the place to tell you all about the books I’ll be reading. Look out for a picture of a tottering pile sometime on Sunday evening… and then you can weigh in and tell me the order in which I should read them.

Where were we? Oh, of course – the ole book, link, blog post malarkey.

1.) The book – is Ellipsis, arrived yesterday, and is a little unusual for these parts inasmuch as it describes itself as ‘a disturbing thriller’. But I was intrigued by the blurb, and by the fact that the author (Nikki Dudley) shares her name with a girl who was at my school. I presume it’s not the same person, but that’s because I like to pretend nobody younger than me has achieved big things yet. Anyway, here’s the blurb – it’s not something the Provincial Lady would read, but perhaps intriguing enough to make a change?

“Right on time,” Daniel Mansen mouths to Alice as she pushes him to his death. Haunted by these words, Alice becomes obsessed with discovering how a man she didn’t know could predict her actions. On the day of the funeral, Daniels’ cousin, Thom, finds a piece of paper in Daniel’s room detailing the exact time and place of his death. As Thom and Alice both search for answers, they become knotted together in a story of obsession, hidden truths and the gaps in everyday life that can destroy or save a person.
I feel a little on edge just typing that… let’s move onto a link.

2.) The link(s) – University Reviews Online keep emailing me, and at first I thought it was spam but now it looks like not. Persistance should be rewarded, should it not, so here is their link to 10 Important Writers Who Went To Jail For Their Work. Off the top of my head I can think of one (Oscar Wilde – yes, it was for ‘immoral thought’ in Dorian Gray not for, erm, anything else) but he doesn’t make the list… and in fact I’ve not heard of any of them, but interesting nonetheless.

A few other bits and bobs to put under this umbrella, playing fast and loose with the normal arrangement of these weekend miscellanies…

—A new website called Books & Media has been set up by BDS: ‘a new web-based subscription service for anyone who wants to know what the media is saying about books and authors’. There’s a free trial period of two months on at the moment, could be worth a look. I’m not sure how useful this is for readers, as opposed to professionals, but… nice to know books are getting some attention!

—Carte Noire are trying to find their Ideal Reader. Not entirely sure how they’re going about it, and I think – as someone who doesn’t like coffee – I’m unlikely to be it, but there are more details on their website. I got side-tracked by watching celebrities read from the classics – fancy hearing Joseph Fiennes read Thomas Hardy or Dominic West read Pride and Prejudice? Well, there are some rather arty sepia-shots of them doing so (even if Mr. West wrongly states that Jane and Bingley were engaged before Bingley went off to London).

3.) The blog post – Danielle aka A Work in Progress is starting a read-along of Anna Karenina by Mr. Leo Tolstoy (are there two schools of thought on pronunciation of ‘Karenina’, or are my friends just wrong? I’m Kah-ren-ih-nuh all the way, none of this Kah-ruh-nee-nuh nonsense for me). See her first thoughts on it here… I’m tempted to join in, but with my pile of books to read next week… it’ll have to go on hold for now.

I can’t believe it’s the weekend already – which probably is a sentiment which could only be expressed by a student. It also marks a week since my library book was due back… oh dear. And I’ve only just started it. The money I’m saving on not buying books has gone straight to paying fines for borrowing books…

It’s been a little while, but I’m sure you all remember the drill with the Weekend Miscellany. We keep it simple it here – one from each shelf, please. Here we go…

1.) The blog post – Is Simon S’s wonderfully enthused review of Evelyn Waugh’s The Loved One, which has definitely moved it a couple hundred places in my tbr mountain. I’ve read a couple Waughs before, and will again (you could say this is my inter-Waugh period, a-ha-ha-clunk).

2.) The book – came through the door yesterday, and is Tarzan and the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I was amused to see this back at the fore of Oxford University Press’ marketing – I walked past their shop on the high street yesterday, and there are dozens of copies in the window, I wish I’d had my camera with me. Obviously I’ve heard of Tarzan, but my main experience with him of late has been QD Leavis’ dismissal in her rather snobbish and wholly fascinating Fiction and the Reading Public (from 1932) that ‘to the highbrow public “Ethel M. Dell” or “Tarzan” should be convenient symbols, drawn from hearsay rather than first-hand knowledge’. Ouch! I’m looking forward to getting my first-hand knowledge, thanks Queenie, love.

3.) The link – is sort of cheating, because it’s to a blog. But it’s a whole blog, rather than an individual blog post, because the whole thing is just so wonderful. And the blog in question? I think I’ve mentioned it before, but was reminded of it this week on Facebook (thanks Meg!) It’s called Colour Me Katie. Well, in actual fact it’s the American equivalent of that, but I can’t bring myself to take the ‘u’ out of ‘Colour’ – sorry! Clicking here will take you to it. There are no books involved, for once – Katie is a freelance photographer and street artist, and basically does exciting little projects involving lots of colour! She’s chalked footprints down the street, painted Pac Man characters around walls, spontaneously put up paper balloons… it’s all so lovely and joyful and definitely colourful. I’m getting a bit of life-envy here… Oh, AND she has a cat. Go and become happier!

I’m not feeling very weekendy, since I’m actually writing this on Tuesday (sshhh, don’t tell anyone) ready to be posted on Friday. By the time you read it, if all goes to plan, I’ll be in Paris – if all doesn’t go to plan, I’ll probably have accidentally got to Madrid or Moscow or something.

So, you’ll have to forgive me, because I haven’t read much of this week’s internet activity yet, since (for me) it hasn’t yet happened… I’m sure, despite that, that I can find a wonderful blog post, link, and book to tell you about…

1.) the blog post – is Kate aka makedoandread’s lovely post about how she first ‘met’ Virginia Woolf – and includes a great link to possible my favourite mural ever. You’ll love it, promise.

2.) the link – in fact, I have two. Thanks offmotorway for posting this great link on my post about favourite book titles – it’s about how not to choose a title for your novel. I don’t agree with everything the journalist says, but it makes for fun reading. The other link is courtesy of abebooks – Top 10 Books By Librarians. As a part-time librarian myself, I couldn’t help loving the idea.

3.) the book – is one I’ve had for a while, and has been available for a while, but I’ve been meaning to mention it. The Maintenance of Headway by Magnus Mills – looks really fun, don’t know why I haven’t read it yet, a nice short book about being a bus driver. His other books have been described as hilarious, surreal, even ‘a demented, deadpan comic wonder’ – and PG Wodehouse is mentioned on the cover of this one.

Why oh why haven’t I read it yet? An interesting review can be found here… but I think I’m going to have to find out for myself.

Will you look at that, somehow it’s the weekend again. Hope you all had a lovely week – mine has not been quite as busy as perhaps it should have been, but was very nicely interrupted today as Our Vicar and Our Vicar’s Wife paid a fleeting visit on their way through to a wedding in London. Oh, and the photo above isn’t particularly relevant – I took it last summer in Cornwall – but I don’t think I’ve shared it here before, and it is rather brilliant.

Right – as per usual, the link, the book, the blog post. It’s like the good, the bad, and the ugly – except it’s the good, the good, and the good.

1.) The link – is this rather fun and interesting article about joining a book group. I may or may not have stolen this link from someone else, I made a note of it last Saturday, and can’t remember – so apologies if I’m not crediting you! I look forward to my various book groups as highlights of my month, and love reading about other people’s experiences in them…

2.) The book – came through the post yesterday, and has the rather irresistible title Love, Revenge & Buttered Scones and is by Bobbie Darbyshire. I’m hoping to read this before too long, but thought I’d alert you to it now, in case it takes a back seat while I wade through the enormous fantasy book I’ve promised my brother I’ll read… Anyway, the novel is about (I quote the blurb) ‘an innocent meeting of a reading group which sparks a series of bizarre events. Three troubled people, driven by loneliness, vanity and revenge, hurl themselves on Inverness public library to find that nothing is as they expect.’ Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

3.) The blog post – is a little unusual for a book blog, but I was struck by Spitalfields Life’s post on Postman’s Park – which commemorates those who died in ‘Heroic Self-Sacrifice’. To give an example: ‘Soloman Galaman, Aged 11, Died of Injuries, Sept. 6 1901, After Saving His Little Brother From Being Run Over in Commercial Street.’ For lots of photos of the unique commemorative tiles there (they are Victorian and the turn of the century), and a bit of the history behind it, click here. I’ve never been in person, but will try and seek it out next time I’m in London. Have you ever been there?

I’m so pleased that a lot of you enjoyed the review the other day – I’ll keep my eye out for similar things in the future, so watch this space…

And it’s the weekend again, so time for a book, a blog post, and a link.

1.) The book – is one for those with deep pockets. It’s no secret that I love EF Benson’s Mapp and Lucia series, and have quite a few of his books which I’ve yet to read – but what enhances my love for these wonderful six books is (as you’ll see if you follow that link back there) the beautiful Folio edition I have of them. My friend Barbara-in-Ludlow originally lent me her set, and I hankered after them for years… eventually finding the set for only £25 in Blackwell’s Second Hand Department – possibly the only recorded instance of there being a good value book there. It was indeed a frabjous day, and I’m pleased to report that the Folio Society have reprinted this boxset – which you can see here. The colours have changed a bit, but it still looks wonderful. Thanks so much Helen for bringing this to my attention. Here’s the downside… it will set you back £120. Less if you’re a Folio Society member, perhaps, but… well, I was lucky enough to find them at a reasonable price, but they’re scarce enough and give me more pleasure than almost any other books I have. (I should be working on commission!)

2.) The blog post – is a review by Elaine at Random Jottings. This fits in nicely with the previous post, since Elaine has just read The War Workers by E M Delafield. This was one of my favourite books read in 2008, but I didn’t write about it on my blog because it was so difficult to find copies. Now that a POD company is issuing it, it seems fair to point you in its direction! First stop, Elaine’s wonderful review.

3.) The link – is not remotely reverent. But is very funny. Anybody familiar with Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart (or, indeed, anybody who isn’t) will love this literal interpretation of her music video…

Happy weekend, everyone! I’ve had one of those not-very-productive weeks, in terms of work and in terms of reading. Not sure quite where it went, to be honest, but still picked up a few bits and pieces for a Weekend Miscellany…

1.) The blog post – is a lovely review of Miss Hargreaves over at Hayley’s blog Desperate Reader – click here to hear how my, er, persuasions have been noted over the years – and how they proved fruitful.

2.) The book – is one I heard about over at Cornflower, who is a fellow Debo fan – Deborah Mitford, or Deborah Devonshire as we should call her (or Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, if you feel so inclined) has succumbed to public pressure and written her autobiography: Wait for Me! You might remember my love of all things Mitford from 2008, and I’m excited about this – there is so much that Debo says that I don’t agree with, but she says it all so charmingly that she’s the most delightful Grumpy Old Woman imaginable. To the extent that none of her opinions really sound grumpy… but instead rather adorable. The book isn’t out til September, so this is very early warning – but I expect some of you will be putting pre-orders in even as I type…

And, finally, I thought I’d let you know that the latest Bloggers Books of the Month are available at the Big Green Bookshop and on its webpage (including my choice, which I love – see all the choices here) – and I’m sure you’ll want to join me in congratulating Simon from the shop on his beautiful new baby boy…